More Broward deputies, police officers being charged with crimes

Miramar Police Officer Jean Paul Jacobi looked stunned as the verdicts were read at the end of his criminal trial last week.

Guilty of official misconduct. Guilty of criminal mischief. Guilty of falsifying records.

Jacobi's Dec. 19 conviction, on charges related to an illegal search of a marijuana grow house in 2010, was the second against a police officer this month. On Dec. 6, another jury found former Hollywood Police Officer Dewey Pressley guilty of falsifying records in a DUI and crash investigation.

The Broward County State Attorney's Office said more police officers can expect to find themselves at the defense table next year.

"There has been a definite uptick in the prosecution of crimes related to the performance of the duties of police officers," Broward County Public Defender Howard Finkelstein said. "We have seen more activity of late when it comes to political corruption and law enforcement misconduct than at any time since I've been in that courthouse, and I've been in that courthouse for 33 years."

Prosecutors responding to a public records request released a list of 20 pending cases against police officers accused of criminal wrongdoing in the line of duty, including another Hollywood officer accused of falsifying reports in the same DUI incident that snared Pressley. Officer Joel Franciso is accused of causing a crash by rear-ending a drunk driver, then lying on official documents about his role in the accident.

Pressley was caught on a dashboard recording boasting about how he would bend the facts to make sure Francisco was protected.

"Police have been allowed to lie on reports for years," Finkelstein said. "But what used to be OK is not OK anymore."

The pending cases released by the State Attorney's Office include only those being prosecuted by the public corruption unit. They do not include cops accused of crimes that have nothing to do with their jobs, such as Lauderhill Officer Kristopher Bieger, recently charged with attempted murder, or Davie Officers Vally Getejanc and Stephen Olenchak, who are charged with aggravated battery and sexual battery, respectively.

But the list does include Billy Koepke and Brian Dodge, who were members of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department's Street Crime Unit and are accused of kidnapping, grand theft and extortion.

It also includes a half-dozen detention deputies caught up in a Broward sheriff's investigation into contraband smuggling at the county's Main Jail.

Sheriff Al Lamberti said the investigation was part of a strategy to hold deputies legally accountable for their misdeeds and end the practice of allowing officers to resign rather than bringing them to justice.

"We are not above the law," he said. "We need to live to a higher standard."

Sheriff's deputies account for more than half of the pending cases against law enforcement officers being prosecuted by the public corruption unit of the State Attorney's Office, and more prosecutions are coming. Lamberti confirmed ongoing investigations into allegations of grand theft, battery and criminal mischief by two deputies.

Neither deputy has been arrested, and their names have not been released.

Officials are also looking into possible misconduct by two deputies who are featured in reality TV programs on the TLC cable channel. Deputy Jerry Wengert, featured in "Unleashed: K-9 Broward County," is being investigated by prosecutors for allegedly falsifying records, and Deputy Erica Huerta, who stars in the same network's "Police Women of Broward County," is being questioned internally about her firing of a gun during a traffic stop in Pompano Beach in September.

Finkelstein's office, which represents criminal defendants who can't afford their own attorneys, has often been critical of Broward State Attorney Mike Satz for a perceived reluctance to go after bad cops. But on Friday, Finkelstein repeated none of his longstanding complaints.

"The blinders are off. I applaud the Broward State Attorney's Office."

But where Finkelstein sees progress, police advocates see second-guessing and meddling.

Jeff Marano, senior vice president of the Broward County Police Benevolent Association, criticized the decisions to prosecute Pressley and Jacobi. Marano said the officers' misconduct should have been regarded as mistakes rather than crimes.

"At the end of the day, they're not stealing anything and they're not taking bribes," Marano said. "They're putting drug dealers out of business and taking drunk drivers off the street."

Prosecutors see it differently. After he won the case against Jacobi, Assistant State Attorney David Schulson complimented the jury for protecting the constitutional rights of the victim – a convicted drug dealer.

"The message has got to be loud and clear," Schulson said. "This is what search warrants are for. The Fourth Amendment applies to everyone."